TAC provides policy and advocacy leadership on affordable and permanent supportive housing and health and human services issues affecting very low-income people with disabilities and people who are homeless.

News

TAC Hosting Wellness and Resiliency Workshops

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

TAC is pleased to announce a series of workshops for Massachusetts Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) providers. In-Home Therapy (IHT) and other home-based interventions are intended to improve a family’s ability to address challenging behaviors, manage stressful circumstances, communicate more effectively, and prevent or intervene early in emerging behavioral health crises. Services are delivered in the family’s home, the very environment where change needs to occur. However, helping professionals providing services to children and families are also exposed to traumatic, neglectful, and at times, violent or threatening circumstances that can result in the worker experiencing secondary traumatic stress (STS). This is in addition to the daily pressures and stress workers face working within a system that may involve large caseloads, productivity demands, and public scrutiny.

In this day long workshop, participants will learn the signs and symptoms of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and its potential impact on the worker’s health, well-being and performance. Common situations that contribute to STS will be explored along with preventative and protective actions that can be taken.

Participants will learn about and practice mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques (based on the evidence-based MBSR course as developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn and the UMass Center For Mindfulness) which are proven to enhance a person’s ability to effectively recognize and respond to stress, minimize the harmful impact of stress on a person’s physical and mental well-being, and promote resiliency.

Through a combination of didactic presentation, experiential activities and small group work, participants will identify situations they encounter that may contribute to STS, recognize personal signs and symptoms, and practice techniques to effectively manage and reduce the impact of stress.

These workshops are being held in each of the five MassHealth regions in March 2015. These workshops are free. Social Work and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) Continuing Education credits are being offered to interested participants at no cost.

Any staff engaged in working with families in their homes and other community-based settings. Providers may register as many staff as they would like for the workshop in their region.

Trainers

Patti Holland, M.S., C.R.C., is the Director of the Human Services Practice at TAC. She successfully completed the 92-hour Teacher Development Intensive in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), offered by the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Admission to the Teacher Development Intensive is limited to those with extensive professional experience in the fields of healthcare, education and/or social change, a personal meditation and bodywork practice, silent meditation retreat experience, and experience teaching. Ms. Holland is pursuing MBSR Teacher Certification through the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society.

Jessica Wozniak, Psy.D., received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Hartford in Connecticut and completed her APA accredited internship at Denver Children’s Hospital. Dr. Wozniak is currently the Clinical Development and Research Manager at Baystate Children’s Hospital’s Family Advocacy Center in Springfield, MA, where she is co-principal investigator on her second 1.6 million dollar SAMHSA National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) funded Trauma-Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy dissemination grant. Dr. Wozniak is a clinical child psychologist specializing in childhood maltreatment, the impact of trauma, and psychological assessment. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hartford and a Clinical Instructor at Tufts University School of Medicine. Additionally, she conducts trainings regularly for community organizations and state based agencies as well as presenting at national and international conferences on topics related to trauma informed practices, Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and secondary traumatic stress.